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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26987431">Till Morning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Username101/pseuds/Username101'>Username101</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Last Night I Dreamt That [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Gore, Graphic Description, Horror, Murder, Nightmares, Shapeshifting, horror story</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:01:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,181</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26987431</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Username101/pseuds/Username101</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>My family and I were traveling in France and night hit before we could reach our hotel. We couldn't really see the road and it was too dangerous because it kept twisting and winding, almost like it was trying to throw us off its back, so when we came upon a small farmhouse we stopped for the night....</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Last Night I Dreamt That [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958953</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Till Morning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last Night I Dreamt That </p><p>My family and I were traveling in the countryside, making our way through the mountains. My cheek was pressed against the cold window of the car, the light humming of the car luring me to sleep, making me struggle to keep my eyes open and my thoughts clear. My siblings were all passed out already and I could tell my parents were tired too, I could hear a strain in their voice. </p><p>“The roads are way too dangerous like this, honey. It's too dark. You can’t even see where the roads turn. We need to stop.” My mom told my father, whose scowl deepened gravely with her words.</p><p>“You want to stop?” He grumbled, “How are we going to stop? There's nowhere to stop, there even aren't any side roads. If I try to get off the road I'll end up hitting a tree or a rock, or worse we’ll fly off a cliff! Right off the mountain. That what you want?”</p><p>“No of course not, but if we keep going on like this we’ll hit something anyway. What if we- wait honey look!” </p><p>I straightened up to see what my mom was pointing at. Hidden between a couple of trees there was a small wooden gate that led to a side road. </p><p>My father grumbled some more as he steered the car and moved us down the dirt road.</p><p>I turned to look out the window once again, staring at the way the full moon would occasionally peek out from behind the tall and slender trees that devoured the skyline. After a couple of seconds the trees became too tall and overbearing, swallowing up the moon and the sky in their entirety. </p><p>I sighed and turned my attention down to the base of the trees instead, entertaining myself by squinting until the trees and boulders that littered the woods started to look like humanoid silhouettes. This wasn’t a good way of keeping myself awake though, the squinting made my eyelids much heavier and I’d find myself drifting off to sleep before shaking myself awake and turning my attention back to the landscape.</p><p>I have no idea how much time passed before the car finally stopped. I straightened up and looked over the front seat so I could see what my father had discovered to be stop worthy enough. In front of the car there was a small open field and, in the middle of it, a small and quaint farmhouse. </p><p>I watched as my father got out of the car and approached the silhouette that was exiting the house. I yawned and tried to look more closely at the person that my father was now talking to. The lights of the house illuminated their back but our headlights were off and their face was enveloped by shadows. My father came back after a couple of seconds, looking relieved.</p><p>“They’re letting us stay the night- even offered a meal. Wake everyone up and grab whatever you need for the night.” He was looking directly at my mother when he spoke but I felt like his words were also directed at me, so I turned and started shaking my brother and sister awake. </p><p>The silhouette quickly became a man as I made my way to the house. I wrapped my arm around my little sister and stared at him. </p><p>“Thank you for your hospitality...” I said meekly. </p><p>The man's face twisted into a smile, revealing surprisingly perfect teeth that heavily contrasted his torn clothes and weathered face. “You arrived just in time for dinner.” He said before winking, and holding the door open for me and those behind me. </p><p>As we entered, a middle aged woman greeted us with a smile and identified herself as the lady of the house before  leading us to the dining room. The lights went out for a couple of seconds as we walked which made my sister let out a little gasp. The woman chuckled before explaining that way out here in the middle of nowhere it was hard to get a good source of reliable electricity, but that we shouldn’t worry too much about it, and that we could keep a flashlight with us for the night, if it made us feel better. </p><p>We didn’t all fit in their table, so the man of the house insisted that us children take the seats while the adults enjoyed their meal standing up. I began digging into my plate of beans as a younger, prettier woman came in, and a small eight year old at her side. She was introduced as the maid and the kid as the only son of the man and woman of the house. The little kid came and pulled up a chair beside me.</p><p>He sat too close to me, and didn’t eat at all. </p><p>He just stared at me, a wide smile displaying perfectly white and straight teeth. I stared at them for a couple of seconds. How did an eight year old not have at least one missing tooth? I shook my thoughts away, and tried to focus on other things as I ate. I stared instead at the maid as she and the lady of the house talked to my parents.</p><p>That's when the lights flickered.</p><p>For a split second, all of their eyes seemed to reflect the light back, the way a cat’s or a dog’s would in the dark. </p><p>I blinked a couple of times trying to make sense of what had happened. Had no one noticed? I looked around and noticed that my brother had a light frown and he looked back at me, before shrugging and going back to eating. I decided to follow suit. Dinner was soon over after that. The man and woman of the house announced that my dad and brother could sleep in the guest room while my sister, mother and I piled on the maid’s room. My parents complained that they wouldn’t want to be a bother and that they'd be fine sleeping on the floor but everyone else, even the maid, insisted on this arrangement.  </p><p>And so I found myself tightly pressed against a wall as my sister sprawled herself all over the bed, quickly taken by sleep. I sighed and looked around the room, suddenly wide awake and restless. The wall that pushed against me had a large window which looked out to the back of the house. In the distance I could see an empty corral, and beyond the woods and other mountains. I was glad that from here I could see the moon and for some reason that gave me some comfort. I stared out the window for a while before I heard my mother, who’d been asleep on the other bed, stir and make some weird noises. I quickly laid back down so she wouldn’t notice I was still awake. </p><p>I tried to stay still but I felt something push up against my shoulder blade. I focused on not moving too much as I used my hand to feel around and find the source of the discomfort. It was a book. </p><p>I pulled the blankets over my head and turned on the flashlight that had been given to my sister in case of a blackout. I opened the mysterious book and began flipping through it before realizing it was a journal. It looked like it belonged to the maid.</p><p>The journal first reminded me of the romance books I’d read when I was younger, talking about the maid slowly falling in love with the man of the house, but as I got deeper into it, the tone changed, becoming darker and darker with each page. The maid seemed to be losing her mind, wanting to murder the lady of the house so that she, and only she, could be with the man of the house. </p><p>I swallowed, deeply unsettled. </p><p>There was no way I could fall asleep now. </p><p>I slid off the bed, careful not to wake anyone up. My mom shifted again and I thought she was about to wake up and scold me, but she went back to being still and I continued making my way out the room, flashlight in hand. I didn’t really have a plan on roaming around too much, I just felt the need to stretch my legs and walk around a bit. </p><p>I made my way down the hallway and was turning back to the room when I noticed a string dangling from the ceiling. </p><p>I pulled on the string and made my way up the stairs that descended alongside the string, my curiosity getting the best of me. I shone the flashlight across the room, the small circle of light revealing  stacks of boxes. I opened a couple of them before finding one that held more books that looked like the journal I had found. I sat down and began reading through them.</p><p>It turned out the maid and the man of the house were having an affair and that at some point she’d been pregnant. I began to wonder if the kid that I’d met back at dinner had actually been the maid’s when I moved to open the next box and froze-</p><p>The maid was there.</p><p>The maid was in the box.  </p><p>At least, her corpse was. Her empty stare looking straight up at me, her mouth opened in an unfinished scream. It looked like she'd been attacked by dogs or some sort of wild animal, her face was all scratched up and she seemed to have been partly eaten with chunks of flesh missing here and there. This didn’t make any sense. I didn’t know much about dead bodies but I knew that this one had to be more than a day old.  How had she been downstairs exchanging pleasantries with my parents not too long ago? </p><p>My hand flew up to my mouth trying to stop my own screams. Realizing my shoes were being stained from the pool of thick blood that oozed from the box, I tried backing up as much as I could, but I ended up slamming against more boxes which tumbled down, displaying the mangled corpses of the rest of the family. </p><p>I heard footsteps down the hall and realized someone was coming. This brought me back from the edge of a complete breakdown. I quickly pushed the bodies into the boxes and quickly stacked them back up before hiding behind them. I turned off my flashlight and gripped it tightly, my trembling hands holding it tight against my chest. </p><p>I heard the footsteps getting closer and forced myself to peek from a crack between two boxes. Three figures entered the room. I watched as the single lightbulb that dangled from the ceiling flickered on, all of their eyes flashing the light back. </p><p>I pressed the back of my hand against my mouth to keep myself from making any sort of noise and quieted my breathing. I tried to focus on what they were saying.</p><p>They were arguing on whether or not they should eat us all tonight or cage some of us for later.</p><p>Their eyes quickly scanned the room before leaving. They didn’t seem to notice me. </p><p>I ran downstairs to wake my family up. We had to get out of here. </p><p>I started shaking my sister awake but she wouldn't wake up so I went to my mom and started shaking her instead. She wasn’t waking up either so I tried pulling back the covers, and realized too late that they were already drenched in blood. </p><p>The child's face was pressed against her, tearing at her flesh. I gagged.</p><p>Noticing his cover had been lifted, the little kid whipped his head back and leaped at me. He clawed at my face, his nails now unbelievably sharp, tearing at my skin. I used all my strength to grab him by the shoulders and keep him from devouring my whole face off. He kept snapping his mouth open and closed, trying to get a bite off my face. His perfect teeth had now been replaced with a bunch of long and jagged teeth that were soaked in blood and littered with chunks of flesh, some of which cascaded down onto me. I grabbed one of his arms and pulled it up, forcing him to bite down on it. He recoiled in surprise and perhaps even pain. I used that split second to push him off and jump back. </p><p>I reached behind me until I found the flashlight I’d been holding which I immediately swung at him. When the metal touched his skin, it sizzled, and the little boy gave a horrible shriek and backed off. He hissed at me, threateningly baring his maws, and it looked like he was about to launch so I swung with the flashlight. He got knocked to the side and I got ready to hit him again, expecting him to launch at me again; however, he bolted for the door and left. </p><p>I ran up to my sister once more trying to bring her to consciousness but she wouldn't wake up. Had they somehow drugged her? Had they drugged everyone else too? I heard more footsteps coming so I grabbed my sister and pushed her under the bed, hoping that it’d be safe enough for now while I looked for help or better weapons.</p><p>I jumped out the window and started running towards the woods until I noticed a set of metal doors that led underground, it looked like it was a cellar. I started running towards it when I heard my brother’s voice calling out for help. I cautiously moved towards the sound. </p><p>My brother stood by the edge of the woods. His clothes were smeared with blood and he clutched his stomach but he didn’t seem to have any visible wounds. I grabbed the flashlight and quickly turned it on and off. His eyes flashed. He snarled at me and lunged.</p><p>I tried to run but he got to me and started trying to pull me, racking my legs and thighs. I managed to kick him off and stand up. I think he expected me to run again because he seemed shaken when I launched at him instead. I grabbed his arms and slammed him against a nearby tree, a sharp, broken branch jabbing through his chest. I gasped at the sight, as if the branch had gone through my own chest, but continued to push anyway. </p><p>Once he stopped moving I took a few steps back, the image gruesome of my brother pressed against a tree, dead, now etched into my mind. I fought back bile rising in my throat and headed back towards the set of metal doors. They weren’t locked in any way so I managed to get in easily enough. I found a plank inside that I used to close the doors. I looked inside the room, which seemed to be some sort of shelter. There were shelves full of food as well as a table to the side, pressed against the wall. On top of the table there sat a first aid kit and a large map that seemed to be of our surroundings as well as a bulky and old radio.</p><p> I swifty made my way over and started working on stopping my bleeding while I inspected the radio. I picked up the speaker and tried using it several times before realizing it had been purposefully broken by someone. I turned my attention to the map instead, trying to find anything useful nearby. There was a rangers station on top of the mountain.The map was firmly taped down, and it looked like if I tried to pull it off it would rip apart. I stared intensely at it instead, working on memorizing its location relative to where I was, and how I’d get there.  </p><p>The metal door started to shake as someone pounded against them and I could hear some sort of angry wailing coming from the other side. I quickly grabbed a string and wrapped it around the light switch and went to hide. </p><p>My dad burst in, his clothes torn and stained with blood. He started crying out for me like he was worried and desperate but I flicked the lights with the string and his eyes flashed. </p><p>He suddenly froze and sneered, staring straight ahead. He’d obviously realized I was somewhere in front of him because in order for that trick to work I'd have to be somewhere where I could see his eyes flicker. His eyes carefully scoured the room until our eyes finally met and he launched at me. I had but a couple of seconds to scramble for something that I could use against him. My hand found an old crowbar and I instinctively held it out, making him impale himself with it as his teeth sank into my shoulder. That single stab wasn't enough so I had to pull it out and push it back in again, blood splattering everywhere. </p><p>When he was finally dead, I stood there a couple of seconds trying not to completely lose my mind. It took me a couple of seconds to realize he'd dropped the car keys. With shaking hands, I grabbed my flashlight, picked up the car keys and headed out towards the car. </p><p>I was trying to start it when I saw the maid running straight towards me and the car kept wheezing and refusing to turn on. I kept trying the car, hoping it would start last minute and I’d have a getaway, but it didn’t.</p><p>The maid broke through the side window, mouth open and hungry, reaching for me. I jumped back and moved towards the passenger seat while trying to kick her away. As I made my way back, she moved closer and closer, until I finally reached the car door and managed to get out just before she was able to maul me. I opened the door and fell back before immediately getting up and closing the door right as she tried to stick her head out. I slammed the car door against her head until she stopped moving, and even a little after that. </p><p>I grabbed her by the hair and pulled her out of the car before going around and looking under the hood of the car, trying to see if I could figure out what was wrong with it. The car had clearly been damaged on purpose, I imagined they did this as soon as we all headed into our rooms, making sure their meal wouldn't drive away. </p><p>I would have to make it to the ranger’s station by foot. </p><p>As I made my way through the woods I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as goosebumps crawled all over me. I heard a twig snap behind me and I immediately turned around looking for anything else coming at me, but the flashlight wasn’t strong enough to cut through the darkness and I couldn’t make anything out. </p><p>I started to run. </p><p>As I ran branches slapped against me, tearing at my arms, face and torso, cutting into me much like the little boy’s claws had done. I don't know why but all I could think about was how I just needed to make it till morning light then I’d be fine. Perhaps this was just the childish, irrational part of my brain that was convinced that bad things could only ever happen under the cover of shadow and darkness, but I listened to it and allowed it to fuel me as I continued to run. </p><p>Till morning light. </p><p>Then I'd be fine. </p><p>I finally made it to the rangers station as the sun started to rise. </p><p>I started to slow down, already feeling relief, when I was tackled from behind, a terrible and sharp agony exploding on the back of my neck. I finally let out the horrified scream I had been holding all night, and turned around as I fell. </p><p>My mother was on top of me, her mouth filled with those same jagged teeth as the kid that had eaten her. She leaned down to bite my face when suddenly a shot rang through the air, and I watched, almost in slow motion, as her face exploded into tiny chunks and flew backwards. </p><p>The rangers came out and pulled me away. </p><p>A couple minutes later I was handcuffed in an interrogation room, two rangers looking down at me. </p><p>“I- I know how this must look,” I was completely soaked in blood and didn't have a good way to make sense of what had happened without sounding like I had completely lost my mind “but there were these- these things and they were eating people and-” </p><p>One of the rangers silenced me by holding a hand up. They then explained how these mountains were special and that if anyone was buried here they’d turn into shifters. They patched me up and let me get clean clothes but still kept me handcuffed in the interrogation room to make sure I wasn't another shifter. </p><p>Every time someone would come in, they'd always come in pairs, handcuffed to each other. When I asked why they explained that they were sure everyone in their department was human, and far as they knew there was only a possibility of one shifter among them- me. So if I turned out to be a shifter and tried to become one of them, the other person would know what happened, and if I killed them both and a single person walked out then the other rangers standing guard outside would know to shoot on sight. I nodded, it sounded like a logical plan. </p><p>They interrogated me and I answered everything, retelling it exactly as it had happened. This didn't seem to suffice the rangers though.</p><p>"That doesn't make any sense,” one of them argued, “you're saying you killed five of them but only four people lived in that farm, and we only found four shifter bodies and your family couldn't have turned into shifters yet because they need to be a week underground"</p><p>I let out a frustrated sigh. “Well how do you know which ones are shifter bodies and which ones are human bodies?” </p><p>The ranger’s expressions seemed to match my own frustration, but behind that I could see a hint of empathy and patience. They explained that shifters have cat-like hands where if you press in a spot their claws come out, even if they are dead, and the same thing with their mouth. This only put me in a worse mood. If they knew so much about the shifters, why hadn't they done a better job at protecting people? Why couldn't they have helped me? Helped my family? </p><p>"Well maybe one of them didn't die- I don't know that's your job!" I snapped back, anger and exhaustion finally getting the best of me. </p><p>The rangers promised to investigate further and left the room. Exhaustion hit me like a train and I was quickly asleep. </p><p>I woke up to the sound of someone slamming their hand against the table. I looked up to see one of the rangers standing in front of me looking very very annoyed. He looked me up and down with great disdain before finally speaking.</p><p>“The maid had a miscarriage. She buried the unborn baby outback and that's how the first shifter was made, you were right they were five in total… with the baby.” As he spoke he searched my eyes, carefully watching my reaction.  </p><p>I nodded and asked if they knew this because they found all the bodies and journals and the ranger shook his head and smiled. I looked him up and down, and felt like throwing up.</p><p>“H- hey aren't you supposed to be with a partner every time you enter?” I felt my whole body tense up, and I started to tug at the handcuffs as I spoke. </p><p>"No,” He replied with even a bigger smile, “because I know for a fact that you are not a shifter."</p><p>“How?” My voice a weak whisper as I spoke- I already knew the answer. </p><p>"Because I'm the last shifter." His lips curled into a dark, twisted smile and I could start to see jagged teeth poking out. </p><p> </p><p>~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-</p><p> </p><p>At this point, I woke up from my dream and tried to calm down. </p><p>When I finally went back to sleep, I found myself back in the car going through the same dark, winding road. This time I was a detective investigating the death of my own family with my partner and we decided it was too dangerous to keep driving at night and that we'd make it to the rangers station by morning when we came across a small farm and the family that lived there let us stay the night and we were having dinner and for some reason the lights flickered on and off and all of their eyes flashed...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't think I have too much to say about this one. I do want to clarify that the first time it says "I woke up to the sound of someone slamming their hand against the table" I actually dreamt I woke up which was super weird and kind of meta but then the second time it says I woke up, I actually woke up in real life and went back to sleep and went through a similar story where I was a detective investigating what had happened. Let me know if you'd be interested in knowing what happened in that one, I don't remember it in as much detail, though.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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